Workshop: "Writing Dick Grayson/Roy Harper" by Pervyficgirl and Second_batgirl
[Jen says]: I failed to get an introduction to these two up, which is a terrible shame since they're fantastic writers and deserve the introduction! But thanks to the magic of tags and the wonder of people who use them well (unlike yours truly), I can happily point you to all the Dick/Roy fic by pervyficgirl and all fic by second_batgirl, in which it is pretty easy to find the Dick/Roy. As you can see, they are both well-versed at this pair and thus great sources for an essay of mind-blowing detail and epic proportions about them! Read on for an great introduction to the pairing!
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Coming up with a list of reasons why we like Dick and Roy together isn't hard due to a lack of reasons. Rather, in looking over all that the characters represent and all that they've gone through together, it's the actual narrowing down the list of reasons that presents a challenge. Even between us, our reasons for liking them are greatly different. pervyficgirl tends to view them as her "OTP of Angst," in other words the couple that she gets to throw the worst possible things their way and watch them battle and confront those challenges as a couple. On the other hand, second_batgirl tends to like them because she feels that the two of them are good for each other; despite all of the problems, their personalities balance out.
One of the best things about writing Dick/Roy, of course, is that both of these viewpoints can not only co-exist in fanon, but have canon origins. Whether your pleasure is angst, fluff, smut, or some combination thereof, there's likely a moment in Dick/Roy history to make you happy and to provide carrots to your bunnies. That history between them is so important that the bulk of this essay will consist in exploring the changing nature of Dick/Roy over the years. Because regardless of the genre of fic they're set in, the full weight of their history together is ultimately what sets the scene.
That history also went a long way in developing the differences and similarities that compose the Dick/Roy dynamic.
Differences
It would be easy to dismiss Dick and Roy as The Original and The Knockoff, two sidekicks of shamelessly rich playboys. Indeed, if one relies solely on their early history, in which Roy was created a mere year after Dick to fill the role of Green Arrow’s Robin, that may be an easy claim to make. However, in the years since 1941, both Dick and Roy have undergone enough that they are undeniably different, even as their experiences together have reinforced their similarities.
In fact, even their origin stories - orphans taken in by kind hearted rich guys - paint two very different backdrops for Roy and Dick to grow out of. Dick’s age when he is orphaned fluctuates based on Era and the writer’s whim, generally falling somewhere between eight to thirteen. From then, he is taken in by Bruce, and begins training almost immediately. As cero_ate once put it, this is a very natural progression for Dick. He went from a circus background where training was a necessary routine measure (and any errors or slacking on the training might cause his parents injury or death) to a vigilante lifestyle where training was a further necessary routine measure (and any errors or slacking on the training might cause injury or death to his partner or the citizens of Gotham.) It was, in many ways, a very natural progression for the acrobat.
Still, despite the undeniable fact that Dick suffered a tremendous loss at an early age, and despite the fact that he would later come to view Bruce in a fatherly light, by the time he lost his parents, Dick already had a definite sense of who they were, and of the heritage they left him.
As he himself says to Roy at the beginning of the latter's soul searching vacation to Ireland: "Another difference between us. I know my roots - back for many generations. Circus performers, acrobats, clowns. The Graysons go all the way back to eighteenth century England."
Implicit in that comment is the fact Roy himself did not have such a smooth transition as Dick experienced. When he was three, his biological father died trying to put out a forest fire, which left the toddler in the care of Navajo medicine chief Brave Bow. It was under Brave Bow’s tutelage that Roy learned archery, and the Navajo customs that Roy grew up with. When Brave Bow became ill, he arranged for Speedy to become the ward of Green Arrow, in hopes that the man Roy idolized would be able to help nurture that skill. In at least one version of events, however, Roy leaves the reservation not knowing why he is being kicked off. According to the Arsenal mini, Roy believed at the time that he was kicked off for being different and for flirting with one of the tribe’s females (with an extra dose of "Brave Bow didn’t want me" thrown in for good measure.)
Young Roy was suddenly thrust into a world very different in language and customs. As he struggled to catch his breath, he became sidekick to Green Arrow, and shortly after helped found the Titans. All good things must come to an end, however, and for Roy that was definitely true. In short order, no doubt just as he was really settling into the third family of his life, the Titans broke up, Ollie went broke, and Green Arrow hit the road with Green Lantern to find himself.
Honestly, considering everything Roy had lost/gained/relost over such a short amount of time, combined with his age? The drug addiction that followed shouldn’t have been surprising to anyone.
Thus, while Dick’s transition to a sidekick was relatively smooth, Roy’s was comparatively not. The differences in the stability in their lives would set the stage for a major difference between them for the bulk of their relationship. Until recent comics storylines, Dick was very much confident and in control - something ilyena_sylph calls Leader!Robbie mode, even after he became Nightwing. Or, as Donna puts it, "You know you’re good," and that was very true. Roy, on the other hand, while outwardly open and carefree to the point of being cocky, had more than his fair share of self esteem issues, as can be expected when one has to go through three sets of parents in less than 18 years.
As Roy states: "You remember how I said we were alike? I lied then, too. I'm nothing like you. To tell the truth, Dick, I always envied you. I - I always wanted to be more like you. I'm your age, but I always felt years younger. More confused, less in control. I couldn't cope, so what did I do? I got into drugs. I forgot my assignment with the CBI and fell in love with Cheshire and gave her a baby. Roy Harper -- I'm twenty-two years old and I feel younger than that new kid - Danny."
Of course, Roy’s a bit biased there (those self esteem issues large and in charge.) Dick’s version of events is a bit more balanced in this case. After observing Roy with Lian for the first time, Dick says to Kory: "...Funny about him and me. He used to envy me because he thought I was so together, and I used to envy him because he was so open and carefree. How little we know about even our closest friends."
As they shed their last vestiges of their childhood identities, however, those differences began to shift. Lian did, indeed, become a very positive influence on Roy, making him grow up and giving him a sense of stability. This adultness is dealt with in his time as Titan leader, his founding of the Dick/Roy version of the Outsiders, and his ultimate decision to walk away from the team. Meanwhile, as Dick adjusted to grown up life and losses that come with being a leader, his doubts grew, so that for a time, he was no longer the confident man that he once was.
As Dick and Roy may have started out with similar "wards of kind rich men" backgrounds, but their relationships with their mentors have not been identical. For a long time, Dick and Bruce were much closer, as the drug addiction incident caused a rift between Ollie and Roy that took a long time to repair.
Recently, however, Ollie and Roy have grown increasingly closer. Roy has taken on the Red Arrow name - a "family" name, he calls it - and freely lets Ollie babysit his baby girl. Some writers have Dick, on the other hand, struggling constantly with his mentor - either face to face as in such stories as Batman: Prodigal, or more internally, such as his issues throughout Devin Grayson’s Nightwing run. Unlike Roy, who loves his father but does live and die by his approval, current Dick characterization makes it clear that the boy is incapable of cutting that apron string. That is not a constant characterization - it has been contracted in Titans storylines and through Dick’s interaction with Tim Drake. Still, it's prevalent enough that it is definitely a consideration in the Roy/Dick dynamic. It's also dealt with well by basingstroke in " Now That We Are Twenty-Four."
Even as their personalities shifted, Dick and Roy continued to be a presence in each other’s lives, despite how very far they’d come from their Robin and Speedy days.
Similarities
While Dick and Roy do have a lot of differences, they also have a lot of similarities. This is not at all surprising because, as mentioned above, Speedy was originally a Robin clone. Both are orphans, both were adopted by rich millionaires, both had crushes on Donna Troy at some point, and both are incredibly stubborn. Unlike the rest of the founding Titans, neither has super powers and they have to rely on their skills to fight crime and battle such wonderful villains as Mad Mod. This leaves them in the position of being the more vulnerable members of the team, yet both save the day on a variety of occasions.
In terms of origin stories, as mentioned before, they have similar ones. Both were orphans who were taken in by wealthy millionaire bachelors, and who were then trained to become heroes by capitalizing on their natural skills. If you look at their early runs, both are very similar in terms of temperament. Both existed to make their mentors seem cooler, and to give the youngish kids someone to connect with.
In terms of temperament, recent writers have given them both serious self-esteem issues. Recent canon gives Dick self-esteem issues because his adopted father is Batman. That is enough to screw with anyone’s head. Dick often feels that he has to be perfect, and that every time he isn’t perfect, and every time he fails to save someone, it just goes to prove how unworthy he is. Though Dick's lack of confidence is a new trend, his desire to please and the issues that come from that go back as far as Teen Titans v1 #38 where we discover that his greatest fear is failure, and disappointing those who he cares about.
Roy has self-esteem problems but for very different reasons. Drug issues, Cheshire issues, Ollie issues. On some level Roy doesn’t feel that he will ever be good enough, to the point that he initially thought that his invitation to the JLA was a joke.
History: Robin/Speedy
During the silver age, Robin was very much a leader. He was bossy, and there was a reason he was in charge. During this time he mostly got along with Batman - the seeds for later fighting were there, but not nearly as strong as they would become much later. Speedy is portrayed as being brash, confident, a total flirt and hard headed. Their only real interaction was in the Teen Titans.
While Robin was one of group that started the Titans, Speedy didn’t join until shortly after the founding, however he is still considered to be one of the founding five. Every now and then a writer will change the origin of the Titans. From the upcoming covers for the Teen Titans Year One mini it looks as though Roy’s status as a founder might be revoked.
All questions of whether or not canon is currently acknowledging Roy as a founding Titan aside, Roy is a founding Titan. In the last issue of Teen Titans (TT v1 #53), the ‘untold origin’ of the Teen Titans was shown in a flashback. Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Speedy and Wonder Girl all teamed up to stop their mentors who had briefly turned evil by aliens. While this is one of (or possibly the first) time they’ve met, the first thing Speedy does is back up Robin’s plan. At the end of the adventure, they decide to form a superhero ‘club’ with a cool name - The Titans. Speedy originally declines membership because "he can’t dig having a clubhouse." Robin’s response is "you can join us whenever you want!" and Speedy agrees on those terms. Because Dick asked him personally.
Pre-retcon, the first time that Speedy joins up with the Teen Titans is in TT v1 #4. Robin notices an intruder and throws his bat-rope, which promptly gets pinned to the wall by an arrow. Speedy has been asked the opening ceremonies at the Olympics, and there are wacky hijinks where he nearly lights the Titans on fire (don’t ask). Speedy is not originally asked to join the Titans at the end of this issue, but they do hope they can hook up again.
If you compare how Speedy is introduced to the ‘welcome’ that Beast Boy got when he tried to join the Titans in TT v1 #6, it is very different. Beast Boy is denied membership on a technicality, and is then compared to a problem child, while the Titans all express hope that Speedy will team up with them again.
When we next see Roy, it is in TT v1 #11. Speedy has broken into Titans Tower to place a job advertisement. Robin is very excited to see him, and says that he should have known it was Roy instead of thinking it was an actual intruder. (Oh, Roy, you are always welcome with Dick. Always.)
The next time Speedy shows up, we are treated to these amazing panels in issue 19.
Oh, Dick, you missed your boyfriend so. Speedy and Wonder Girl split off to go solve one case, and a very upset Robin goes off with Kid Flash and Aqualad. Both teams promptly get captured by someone who Speedy compares to a ‘two-bit Joker.’ By working together (and launching an arrow from a bow held up by Robin’s legs) they are able to win. They also play rock-paper-scissors in order to decide who gets to punch out the villain. It is quite adorable.
At the end of the issue Garth quits the team to go take care of the Aquababy, and Roy decides to take up their offer to join the team. While Roy claims only to be joining the team to get Wonder Girl, you have to assume that Robin has something to do with his decision to be on the Teen Titans.
Because for the next few issues we have panels like this
and this.
Soon after Speedy joins the team, the Mr. Jupiter era starts, and Robin quits (partially because he feels guilty that he didn’t save someone, and partially because he’s going to college. And also because the Titans go without their powers, masks or secret identities, and well, that’s no good for Robin.) For the next few issues there will be very little interaction between Robin and Speedy, although Roy makes it clear that he will miss Robin. However, their separation will be shortlived.
At the end of issue 43, the Teen Titans got cancelled. The series resumed a few years later. During their time apart, the Titans had all fallen out of contact, and during that time Roy had started using. It is entirely possible that if he had the Titans to fall back on, it would never have happened. However, in one view, the fighting within the Titans was one reason that Roy started using in the first place.
Dick and his opinion of Roy is important to Roy. And always will be.
The Titans reform and after a brief series of misunderstandings, are back and better than ever. None of the Titans hold Roy’s addiction against him, and are instead are just glad that he’s back with them and the Titans are together again. As per Speedy’s request, he and Robin are paired on missions together.
Roy also spends a lot of time questioning Dick’s decisions on who to trust - he is one of the most vocal members about his distrust of Duela Dent. The way it is written though, Roy just sounds jealous. He also mocks Dick when he thinks that Dick is being too serious.
Dick also criticizes Roy on his love life, saying that Roy considers everyone his territory.
While the two of them do spend most of their time arguing throughout volume 1, there is a lot of trust and mutual respect. They care about each other
When the Titans break up at the end of volume 1, it is Roy who points out that they’ve grown up and they aren’t kids anymore. They have to learn to be individuals. And then he thanks Dick and tells him he has a lot of respect for him, even if they didn’t always see eye to eye.
Speedy/Robin during the NTT Era
Speedy wasn’t part of the original New Teen Titans team mostly because he was off playing civilian. He did, however, join Dick and company for a brief story arc in which the Teen Titans try to save the streets of New York from the perils of drug use.
In Speedy’s introduction issue, Dick is quite pleased to see Roy, and manages to sneak in just how cute he finds Roy:
"...Man, it’s good seeing you again, Pal. What’ve you been up to?"
"This and that, keeping busy. This tower is incredible, Dick. We should have had something like this in the old days."
"You still practice playing Robin Hood?"
"Not as much as I’d like, but I’m still as good as I ever was. There! Now tell me. In this day and age do you think Speedy still has what it takes to be a major super-hero?"
"You cut a mean costume, Mr. Harper."
Raven interrupts their flirting with the reminder that there are actually other people still on the team, and Roy spares some time to flirt with Raven. Dick is not at all pleased to see his love flirting with someone else:
"Whoa. Slow down, Romeo. I see you’re the same as ever."
"Believe it, Pal. Remember, they didn’t call me Speedy for nothing."
"*sigh.* The more things change, the more they stay the same. C’mon. Let’s get moving."
By the time Speedy flirts with Kory later in the arc, Dick’s pretty much had it with Roy’s flirting and tells Roy to back off.
The most telling Speedy/Robin part of the New Teen Titans comes during a flashback issue, in which we see both Speedy and Aqualad visit the Tower at the beginning of the New Teen Titans origin. While the rest of the team is busy greeting Aqualad, Dick’s attention immediately goes to Roy, who reciprocates the ignoring of the rest of the team and tells Dick that he needs help.
"Yeah, something’s wrong, Dick...Real wrong, and I need your help."
"You’ve got it, Roy. You know that."
Ah, the sweet and prophetic words of teenage love.
Toonverse
Toon Titans gives us a different take on the characters. In his first appearance in the season two episode "Winner Takes All," Speedy appears to be a clone of toon!Robin. He is extremely dedicated, not at all sarcastic, and is prime leader material. Robin and Speedy immediately hit it off, and begin a conversation about their weapons. He is shown as being slightly more pragmatic, trying to convince Robin that winning is not as important.
When we next see Speedy, it is in the two part finale to season three, "Titans East." Here, he has changed some to more resemble his comics counterpart. Speedy is sarcastic and occasionally insensitive. He insists on eating fish even after Aqualad had asked him to stop because it offended him. The characterization of Speedy is much closer to his late silver age counterpart.
Toon Robin is a very driven version of Dick Grayson. He is extremely bossy, far more so than comics Robin has been in a while, and again feels that he needs to be perfect. He views failure as something that should not happen to him, and he needs to be able to capture criminals. His obsession with Slade is the strongest example of that.
History: Nightwing/Speedy
"I need Roy...and I trust he's as stupidly curious as I am." - Action Comics Weekly 627
Speedy and Nightwing didn’t get a lot of panel time together. From the time Dick became Nightwing until Roy became Arsenal, Roy was a rare sight around Titans Tower, choosing instead to focus on his civilian identity, CBI or Checkmate. However, two very important - and delightfully slashy - story arcs came out of Nightwing/Speedy spending time together.
The first of these arcs is "The Cheshire Contract." Ostensibly, it is supposed to be an arc in which Dick and Roy rescue his then baby daughter from her supervillain mother. While it certainly is that, it is also a convenient excuse for the boys to get naked around each other and share their feelings.
To that end, we are treated to panel after panel like the following:
And
And
That is, for the record, Dick getting undressed in front of Roy, who looks rather happy to be treated to the second striptease of their trip so far.
In the beginning, Roy is not entirely truthful with Dick with the reasons for the trip (likely because Baby Stealing is the kind of illegal activity not usually sanctioned by most people.) However, it is very telling that he is adamant for Dick’s help, and completely rejects the help of any other of the founding Titans, including Donna. Despite the initial untruthfulness, the fact that he still seeks out Dick’s help and steadfastly does not want anyone else’s depicts a very strong sense of trust that even their years apart did not sever.
Even when Dick finds out the truth, his loyalty to Roy does not waver. He stays with Roy through the entire five issues of the arc, coming to Roy’s rescue and risking life and limb fighting Cheshire, something that truly distresses a bound Roy. He also manages to both save Roy and deliver Lian to her father’s hands.
At the end of the arc, Cheshire is captured. Her last words to Nightwing before she is carted away are: "T-take ... care .... of ...my baby." To which Dick replies, "Lian is in good hands. The best of hands."
Cheshire is a lot of things, but she’s never been stupid. She’s well aware of exactly who is on the Titans line up (having fought them), that the father of her baby isn’t, and that Roy has no intention of being separated from his daughter. Yet, she still is asking Dick to take care of her baby.
Really, when even the supervillains know you have a thing going on, obvious is too kind of a word.
The follow up to this storyline is "Rocks and Hard Places," in which Dick takes time away from leading the Titans to randomly go on a cruise with Roy and Lian. While he is helping Roy move to Ireland, we’re once again treated to Roy and Dick hanging out together gratuitously naked on occasion and talking about their feelings some more.
Roy: "Maybe I’m wrong about this, Dick, but it’s something I have to do."
Dick: "It’s not wrong. More than almost anyone else, I understand."
Roy spends a few issues of this arc alone in Ireland, trying to adjust to life there while fighting terrorists. However, when things get really bad, he once again calls on the friend he trusts most. And Dick is happy to show up - by himself and completely sans the team he was leading at this point, even though one suspects that when fighting firebombing terrorists, having an Amazon and a Tamaranean on your side could only be a good thing.
It also features a very nice car chase in which Dick and Roy argue like a married couple while being chased by the bad guys.
"Harper! Slow down! We’re more in danger of becoming a traffic accident than anything else! Harper, you lead foot, the Cliffs!"
"Okay, okay! I get the point! This slow enough?"
"Hurry up! Can’t you go faster!"
"Make up your mind!"
"Roy, shoot them!"
"You shoot them. I‘m driving!"
Awwww. To complete the image of parents on a family vacation, Roy and Dick are traveling during that scene with Lian and two additional sidekicks Irish children.
Also, there is gratuitous propositioning.
This arc ends with Roy returning stateside and hanging out with Dick and Kory. Kory plays with Lian, while Dick and Roy discuss their feelings again. It’s a very sweet domestic scene, with Dick being surrounded by the two redheads who love him.
Together, "The Cheshire Contract" and "Rocks and Hard Places" make up a very small portion of Dick and Roy’s lives together. However, these story lines provide the basis for so many of the "Lian has two daddies" storylines in fandom, even those set years after the fact. Most importantly of all, the ease with which Nightwing and Speedy interact in these story arcs is one that shows true, undeniable affection and gratuitous nudity for one another, even at a time in which they were not seeing each other on a daily basis.
Arsenal/Nightwing
Two Nightwing/Arsenal references took place outside of the regular Titans title. The Arsenal miniseries, set shortly after Ollie’s death, doesn’t actually feature Dick, nor is he in anyway central to the plot.
This doesn’t stop Roy from bringing him up, however. In the middle of a discussion with Connor about Ollie (where once again, Roy’s insecurities shine through), Roy remarks: "Do you know Nightwing, Connor? Guy’s got this sidekick-hangover thing about being in second place to Batman. Well, check me out. I’m in second place to Ollie, and to you, and to Nightwing...So Nightwing feels a little inferior to Batman, sometimes, huh? Well, so what?! Get over it already! I mean, at least Nightwing would’ve remembered to keep someone conscious to tell him where (Vandal) Savage was!"
Roy again brings Dick up, as he is in the middle of a moral quandary. Faced with the decision to help Vandal Savage or allow Lian to die, Roy first chooses to help Savage, but then does a mental checklist of the people in his life that have gotten him to this point (And who, implicitly, would disapprove.) Chief among these people are Ollie, and "...Hell, even Dick would get me out at frickin’ six a.m. to spar..."
At the very least, this miniseries makes clear that Dick is an important part of Roy’s life. The fact that Dick is mentioned - when none of the other Titans are - along with Ollie as one of the biggest influences in Roy’s life shows a layer of trust and companionship that even the beginning slasher could turn into fic.
The Batman/Arsenal one-shot continues this theme, as well as the one set out by Marv Wolfman in "The Cheshire Contract" and "Rocks and Hard Places" : when Roy needs help, Dick is the first person he turns to.
It should also be noted that the first panel we see has Roy’s thought bubble directly beside Dick’s crotch. The sentiment expressed? "Now I’ve got him."
Oh, Roy, honey, I’m sure you do.
This time around, however, Dick is adjusting to life in Bludhaven, and since the actual problem is in Gotham (something Dick expresses disappointment over), Roy is sent to Batman.
The interactions between Bruce and Roy are actually quite fascinating. A lot of fandom portrayals have Roy terrified of Bruce, and show Bruce as condescending and not approving of Roy as a partner for Dick. Here, as Bruce and Roy work side by side, neither of those characterizations are really very present. Roy initially doesn’t want to work with Bruce because he "ain’t normal," and Bruce does treat Roy briskly, but no more so than typically depicted with Clark or various JLA members. Moreover, Roy gets over whatever "fear" he might have had long enough to tell Bruce that he thinks Bruce has been a lousy parent. "I don’t know what the hell made you superhero guys think you were capable of raising kids, but let me tell you something. Praise doesn’t kill anyone. There’s even this thing called self-esteem that’s considered useful in certain situations. Y’know, I’ve spent my whole life coming I second place to Dick. ..But hey, I’m man enough to admit that he can do things I can’t. Plus, I’ve known all along the price he paid was having to deal with you. Hard to imagine the two of you going camping just for the hell of it. Or spending all day playing old B.B. King albums and making chili. Bet you didn’t even miss it! None of it counts anyway, right? We’re not family to you guys! We’re just soldiers, low ranking soldiers. We’re just supposed to go on no matter what. That’s the way it is, isn’t it? Isn’t it?"
Hardly the words of someone too terrified of Batman to speak.
And Bruce, though he’s been his typical Battish self up to this point, recognizes Roy’s painful tirade for the projection that it is. His response is a very simple, very understanding, "Roy...I miss Ollie too."
By the end of the issue, Dick has called in to make certain that Bruce rescued his daughter Lian, and Bruce has gained Uncle Batman status with the child.
"See, princess? I told you Grandpa Ollie would look out for you no matter where he was. That’s what family does. Ask your Mommy. Or Uncle Batman."
Now that the "meeting the in-laws" section has been discussed, let’s move on.
By the time they become Nightwing and Arsenal, the two have gone through a lot of changes. Dick has started to become darker, his relationships have begun to fall apart. Dick is basically on his own. Roy, on the other hand, has grown up and is far more confident in his abilities, and has mentored another team of Titans in the interim.
In Nightwing 10 Dick is placed under the influence of Scarecrow’s fear gas. His entire hallucination is about being replaced by people who are better than he is. The newer model. The one that replaced him in love? Is Roy Harper. Roy is who Dick wants to be in terms of family and love. He is the one that Dick views as being better than him.
After Cyborg stopped being a planet due to the help of the Titans and the fact that Beast Boy loooooooves him, the founding five Titans met up in a diner and decided to reform the Titans. Because they are all far more awesome when they are on a team. During the conversation, Lian sits between her two dads, drawing pictures of her new home.
The change in Dick as he joins the Titans is immediate. He trusts his team. He trusts them to be able to do their jobs, going so far as to tell Superman that they don’t need a babysitter, and they can handle themselves. Roy as well does wonderfully with the Titans - he puts his team and his family first. Dick does also assume that Roy would be the one to step up to the challenge and lead in his absence. While he suspects Wally might be able to as well, his first thought is Roy. Roy is also the one who he asks to watch his back when they go into battle.
The two of them soon settle into a pattern where they tease each other. Or really, Roy teases Dick. A lot. About his name, his needing the secret identity... and soon the Titans are at each others throats.
Not just Dick and Roy - in fact, at the start of it, they are getting along better than most of the Titans. Nightwing has begun his descent into becoming more like Batman - one of the reasons this version of the Titans was formed in the first place. In an attempt to try to save their relationships, the five founding Titans went off on a retreat. Due to some interference by the Gargoyle, all of their issues bubble over.
It is Roy who calls Dick out on his behavior first, bringing up some real issues along with some low blows. His main point is that Dick can’t give his entire life up for Batman, and Dick is visibly wounded by his words. (Surprisingly, it is Garth who throws the junkie comment around.)
The Gargoyle then attempts to place the Titans under his control, and it is Roy who first breaks free. The first thing he does is search out Dick, because there is nobody better to have by his side. When Dick figures out that they need to talk things out to escape from Limbo, Roy is able to confront Dick, remind him that friendship is about helping each other become more. And then he reminds Dick that he loves him, but occasionally he drives him (and the rest of the team) crazy. And he ends by punching Dick in the face.
Sometimes a good kick in the pants (or punch in the face) is just what is necessary, and a favorite form of therapy for Dick and Roy. They then return to normal and get back to teasing each other.
After the death of Donna Troy in Graduation Day, Dick disbanded the Titans, unable to deal with the fact that he’d lost yet another friend. After throwing in the towel on the Titans, Dick swears he’s going solo and wants nothing more to do with being a part of a team. Roy’s immediate response is that he and Dick can get through this together, even though at that time both Wally and Garth were still around.
The Outsiders are born out of Roy’s determination that he and Dick belong together on a team. Roy tries first to phone Dick, and we are treated to a scene of Dick staring forlornly at a photograph of the original Titans as Roy’s voice pleads with him to pick up the phone. "Dick, we need to talk... you can’t just...please...you can’t just leave me hanging out here. I’d rather we...y’know...try to go through this together... if you’d just let me...okay, fine. I’m here when you’re ready."
When Dick won’t answer his phone call, Roy gets frustrated and hunts down Dick anyway. It’s important and fascinating to note that Roy doesn’t do the reach out and touch program with a single solitary other Titan. There’s no heartfelt call to Wally, no determined quest to Atlantis...it’s Dick, and only Dick that Roy is interested in saving. Only Dick that Roy apparently can’t live without.
And face to face, Dick does cave rather easily.
Roy knows Dick is better off with a team. He convinces Dick to join with the offer that it will be a team of strangers, although he hopes that Dick will grow to think of them as a family. (Which was always the Titans' greatest strength, even if Dick was thinking of them as a weakness at that point, because he couldn’t stand for it to hurt anymore.)
And for all of its faults, Outsiders is a Dick/Roy slasher PARADISE. Particularly Grace’s view of the couple.
You know how we mentioned that Dick and Roy’s favorite form of therapy is punching each other? After Roy was shot, Dick pulls a gun on Roy to help him regain his confidence and get over his fears.
(An abridged conversation - full scans are here and here
Dick: C’mon. Take it. Three months ago I wouldn’t have been able to draw it on you... Roy...?
Roy: I’m scared. For the first time in a very long time... I’m scared.... I can’t be thinking about... dying. I don’t think I should be out there in the field. I’m going to get someone hurt.
Dick: Well. Which is it? You’re afraid of getting someone hurt or you’re just moaning about dying. Pick one.
Roy: This is you helping me?
Dick: Not so much. Pulling the gun on you, that was helping.
Roy: I see that a childhood with Batman doesn’t breed sensitivity.
Dick: Roy... look... if you don’t want to come back to this life then don’t.... but if you’re asking me if I think you’ve lost your edge, or if I think you shouldn’t be on this team. Or... if I wouldn’t put my own life in your hands.... Man... there is no one... NO ONE I’d rather have fighting by my side than you.
That’s right. There is nobody that Dick would rather have fighting by his side. Not Batman. Not Superman. Not Wally. Roy.
After Infinite Crisis, Dick and Roy break up. No, seriously. That is the best interpretation that I can give you for the Outsiders Annual, which pervyficgirl wrote a (NC-17) fic about in Unmake the Memories.
Roy has realized that he is better off in the light, and he is not meant to be an Outsider. (He belongs in the JLA, as you will see in the next section.)
It will take Dick over a year to come to this same realization.
Present: Red Arrow/Nightwing
At first glance, the current situation between Roy and Dick is pretty grim indeed. Roy is currently working with the JLA while Dick has just ended (another) failed engagement. The overall theme for Dick’s current Marv Wolfman comic seems to be moving on and beyond the past, while Roy’s current personal theme seems to be embracing his past. The boys do indeed seem to be at very different spots in their lives, and a considerable distance apart from one another.
Ah, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, and, repeating their Nightwing/Speedy pattern that gave birth to gay cruises and domestic tranquility, the absence certainly hasn’t made Roy forget Dick. His first response to Hal before the League is formally put together, upon learning that there was trouble, was that they could form their own League. The very first person Roy wants on his team, the first person he would turn to, despite all the bad that has transpired between them, was Dick.
When Roy is close to death in the eleventh issue, he tells us why.
"The pressure’s so great, I feel it in the bad vein down my forehead. Next to me, Mari’s already slowing down. She thinks it’s because she lost contact with the totem. But she’s not on this team for the totem - or for her animal powers - or even for a bow and arrow. She’s on this team because she’ll fight. Like Bruce taught Dick. Like Dick taught me."
And while Roy seems to have momentarily found another pretty bird, Lian’s comments to Kendra remind us that for a very long time, Lian had two daddies.
Kendra: "Wanna go up to the kitchen? I can do a princess hologram with a real castle."
Lian: "How ‘bout a Batcave?"
Her Gotham daddy apparently taught her very well.
There’s hope in the Nightwing comic as well. Dick is cheerier and more content in the book than he’s been since prior to Graduation Day. Marv’s Dick Grayson is very much a grown-up, and one capable of admitting he’s made mistakes in the past, and wanting not to repeat those mistakes. There’s even an admission that he’s loved freely, but not allowed himself to admit need anywhere near as easily.
They are indeed facing two very different start-overs at this point in their lives. While no one can predict what the future holds, the boys have overcome far lower points in their relationship before. Thus, no matter how long DC keeps them apart or whatever else is thrown their way, it is still easy to believe that Dick and Roy will be overcome the current stumbling blocks as easily as they have ones in the past.
Supporting Casts/relationships
Bruce - Dick’s relationship with his adoptive father is a very complicated one. On one level, the two of them work together incredibly well, but that is only when the masks are on and if they aren’t being completely ridiculous at the time. Bruce and Dick have most settled into mutual respect, with Bruce still having a great degree of influence on Dick’s self esteem. A compliment from Bruce has been shown to be enough to make Dick’s day, while a harsh word could cause incredible damage. Dick seeks out Bruce’s approval, but it has been shown that he doesn’t always think he deserves it.
So how would Bruce feature in a Dick/Roy fic? Is he going to be accepting of Dick’s partnership with Roy? Is he going to be controlling? Will Dick be able to put Roy ahead of Bruce, or will he still continue to come when Bruce calls?
Ollie - As troubled as Dick and Bruce have been... at least Bruce isn’t canonically responsible for Dick turning to drugs. Unlike Ollie. Ollie’s abandonment of Roy to go off to have sex with Hal on a road trip with Hal to find himself led directly to Roy’s heroin use. For a while, Roy and Ollie weren’t speaking at all after that. They were so estranged that nobody even remembered to invite Roy to Ollie’s funeral. Since Ollie’s return for the dead, the two of them have patched things up (and gone on a road trip of their own.) Roy has come to terms with the fact that he is important to Ollie, and Ollie (mostly) remembers this as well.
Ollie in a Dick/Roy fic? Well, the best thing that Judd Winnick did in his GA run was legalizing gay marriage in Star City. There are quite a few fics where either Ollie encourages Roy to bring Dick to Star City for that purpose, or freaks out when Dick and Roy show up. Also, there should really be more fic with Dick blaming Ollie for Roy’s addiction.
Dinah - There is really not enough that I can say about the positive role that Dinah has played in Roy’s life. When Roy was detoxing from heroin? It was Dinah who was there for him. She is his mother figure. (Which, considering that we know almost nothing about Roy’s mother, is quite significant.) Dinah calls Roy ‘boy-o’ and has been shown to issue ‘friendly’ warnings to his potential love interests.
Dinah in Dick/Roy fic? Well, how does she feel about how Dick treated Roy from Graduation Day on? How does she feel about Dick in general considering his past relationship with Barbara?
Babs - Barbara Gordon, the first (or second if we count pre-crisis Bette Kane) Batgirl, and now Oracle. Often presented as being the first true love of Dick’s life. They did, in fact, have a very adorable past relationship, but Dick and Babs have mostly moved on and been allowed to grow up, although they will always care deeply about each other. They were also briefly engaged right before One Year Later, but neither of them have made any attempt to get back together since.
So how do we fit in Babs in a Dick/Roy fic? As Oracle, she’s always a convenient way of setting the two up for something.
Kory - Oh, Kory. Both pervyficgirl and second_batgirl adore Kory, and would love to see her get more love in fic. Kory is also a very important part of Dick’s life. She taught him to loosen up and have fun. She’s like Roy in that way. Kory represents a big part of Dick getting to grow
up
Kory in fic is a) useful for sex pollen b) awesome for threesomes and c) awesome in general.
Donna - I cannot stress enough the importance of Donna to Dick and Roy. She is their rock. All of the original Titans had crushes on her, but the ones she was closest to were Dick and Roy. Her death was part of what sent Dick on his downward spiral as he could not deal with losing her.
In fic? Donna loves both of the boys dearly. Does she encourage them to get together? Wonder if she turned them both gay? Help them sort out their problems/feelings? Also, briefly during The Titans Donna admitted that she was using Roy. How does Dick feel about that? How does Donna feel about what her death did to Dick and Roy? There are so many possibilities for Donna within Dick/Roy fic.
Cheshire - Cheshire will always be an important part of Roy’s life, simply because she is the mother of his child. And he still does care for her, as shown in The Titans. He has, however, grown to acknowledge that it is not possible for there to be anything between them. Cheshire is currently in prison, but Roy still takes Lian to visit her.
How would Cheshire react to Dick/Roy? How does Dick feel about Roy still taking Lian to visit her? How does Dick feel about Cheshire still being a part of Roy's life?
Lian - Roy’s daughter is a bundle of love and joy and the only child in the entire DC baby boom who is not an evil robot. She is wonderful and can take care of herself and means absolutely everything to Roy. The world is also clearly a much better place when Lian has two daddies.
The (Teen) Titans - For both Dick and Roy, the Titans are their family. Period. No matter that the lineup of the team is, Dick and Roy do best on the Titans. (Okay, Roy is also pretty awesome on the JLA, and he deserves to be there.) But the Titans are a family. They look out for each other. They may not always like each other, but they will always love each other. The Titans know Dick and Roy better than anyone, and they look out for each other. In fic - how do the Titans react? Are they responsible for locking them in a closet and making them work it out getting them together? Do they all approve?
The Outsiders - As mentioned before, the Outsiders were formed by Roy to keep Dick from going insane. Dick was a jackass to him and the team, because they were not nearly as awesome as the Titans. However, it is canon that Grace thinks that Dick and Roy make a cute couple. So, the Outsiders are good for that. However, they were more of a challenge to Dick and Roy’s relationship and a sign of Dick’s nervous breakdown than anything else.
Challenges to the Dick/Roy Relationship
One of the reasons I love Dick and Roy so much is because of their ability to continually face and overcome challenges in their relationship. A relationship is only as strong as the tests it can weather, and Dick and Roy have weathered more than their fair share of threats, both internal and external. Ignoring the angst and rough spots in their relationship would be ignoring a large part of what makes them Dick and Roy in the first place.
New Titans - By the time of the New Titans, Dick Grayson is not in the best emotional shape of his life. He was an angry, bitter young man confused over his place with Batman and the Titans, and the fact that his girlfriend broke up with him after he unknowingly cheated on her with a shape shifting impersonator did not help his disposition.
In New Titans 100, Dick and Kory finally have their wedding. Unfortunately, they are interrupted by evil Raven blowing up the officiator. Even more unfortunately, this all coincides with the increasing government crackdown on superhero teams which, in retrospect, was a small scale version of Marvel’s current "superheroes must register and do our bidding or else" plotline.
Roy is, at the start of the arc, working for Checkmate. Because of his ties to the Titans he is chosen to be Checkmate’s delegate to convince the Titans to allow themselves to be put under government supervision. Continuing a pattern established with "The Cheshire Contract," the first person Roy goes to is not the Titans as a whole, but Dick.
Alone on a rooftop together, Roy tries to convince Dick to agree and to lead the Titans. Dick refuses and it’s only then that Roy puts the offer to the other Titans. Checkmate, displeased with the refusal, changes the offer and now wants Agent Harper to be in charge, under the belief that he will be easier to manipulate.
Roy and the other Titans agree to this, but only because Dick’s mental state is clearly and obviously not one that needs to be leading their team. Moreover, Roy’s hesitation to do anything to hurt Dick is obvious as he pleads to first to his boss: "Please, Sir, don’t make me do it. Nightwing knows what he’s doing. He’s a good man." and then to the rest of the Titans (including the remaining three of the founders.) "Someone convince me this is best for him (Dick). I really need to believe that."
Donna convinces him, but doesn’t do such a good job convincing Dick.
Dick: "Without powers and abilities it was hard growing up for all of us. I tuck it through. But you -- you dropped out. You drugged out."
Roy: "Dick, that’s not fair. And this has nothing to do with that."
Dick then proceeds to attempt to teach Roy the "lesson" he "deserves" for being a "traitor." Roy doesn’t fight Dick, choosing only defensive moves, and tries to point out that if Dick was thinking straight, there’s no way Roy would be able to dodge them.
Dick: "I’ve been there every time you called me. I sat up with you all night while you detoxing. That was not a pretty sight."
Roy: "I haven’t forgotten, Dick. That’s what makes this so hard for me."
Dick goes off to South America to find Kory and to rescrew his head back on. Back home, Roy makes his reasoning quite clear. "I'm not Dick. He's gone and I'm in charge, so please either help me or leave. I love the Titans and what it's always stood for, Wally. And I want to do my damnedest to save it."
Despite this, the ensuing arc gives us more than one instance of Roy’s insecurities in Dick not being there. And Dick, once he takes time out from his South American vacation, decides that he has to leave the Titans, not because of Roy or Checkmate, but because he has some very real growing up to do.
And the first person on his mind, whose reaction worries him? "This is for me...I deserve to do something for me...even a convicted felon gets time off for good behavior. Roy'll understand. He has to."
Roy might understand, but he still takes it hard, and still pleads with Dick to stay.
"Dick, you’re the core of our group . You have to stay."
"Roy, I was going to take time off before you signed that. You know everything I've gone through lately. One thing I learned is I have to be comfortable with myself. If you need help, Roy -- you can call. The Titans still mean everything to me...but for now, it's your group. Take care of it, bud."
This is the first major hurdle Dick and Roy have to get over, but it certainly isn’t their last. If anything, it proves that Dick and Roy need each other very much (as evidenced in their constant referrals to each other and need for the other to understand what they are doing, far above anyone else.) And as anyone familiar with Titans history can attest, the split is not permanent. Soon enough, Nightwing and Arsenal are both back with the Titans. Considering all that was thrown at them in the coming years, this is a very hopeful indicator of the way things can and should work out between them.
Devin Grayson’s Nightwing Run - Love it or hate it, it’s safe to say that Devin’s Nightwing run introduced a much darker Nightwing than before. During her run, Dick’s circus is attacked, his apartment building blown up, he’s sexually assaulted, and he works undercover with both the Mob and Deathstroke. As a fitting end to the run, Deathstroke arranges for Dick’s city to be blown up, providing an adequate end for such a dark story arc. There are an infinite number of post-Nightwing 93 fics, most of which falls in the category of fix-it fic. Two such excellent examples include mamadebfic’s "Titans and Brothers" and "Halloween Surprise" by raven_kerry, as well as second_batgirl’s " "Fixing It".
The implications this story arc have on Dick and Roy’s relationship don't have to be imagined. In Nightwing 114, we are shown exactly what Dick’s darker turn is capable of doing to them.
The most interesting aspect of Dick’s turn as "Renegade," in terms of the Dick/Roy relationship is that the man chooses to clothe himself in Arsenal’s colors during that time. In fan fic, this is usually seen as a crying out and a clinging to the life that Dick misses and wants back. That theme is actually present in most Renegade era fic.
Even in the actual issue itself, one can see that Dick doesn’t want to fight Roy. Just before the first punch, Dick’s head and shoulders slump, a sign that he hates what he is doing in the name of being undercover.
Sadly, Dick doesn’t follow his gut. His words following that scene are a plea for Roy to"don’t get up." He repeats the phrase to Roy, each word accentuated by a punch or a kick.
The explanation is that Dick was merely protecting Roy from Rose and protecting his undercover status as a "bad guy." Still, the kindest thing that can be said about that scene is that Dick chose the Mission over and above his former lover his friend and fellow founding Titan.
After Dick leaves, Roy calls Oracle and lets her know that she was right, and he did need more padding. The look on his face is not a happy one, rather it's one of a man that is worried about the direction his partner is heading in.
Graduation Day and The Outsiders - Truthfully, The Outsiders are a Dick/Roy ‘shipper’s paradise, especially for the first fifteen issues. Those first fifteen issues are glorious and fun and full of snaky greatness that provides all the evidence that Dick and Roy either are/have/will sleep together at some point in the past/present/future. In fact, there is a lot of really wonderful fan fic written from The Outsiders that doesn’t have a hint of angst in it anywhere. A wonderful example of this is "Spanky Pants" (Very NSFW) by derryderrydown.
Issue 16 of the series changed the tone and the nature of the relationship. In that issue, Roy confronts Dick over less than stellar leadership and the boys play a game of "your mentor is worse than mine."
"Jesus, you think this is ego?! Look at you! Your greatest fear in life, the thing that eats at you - is that you’re terrified of becoming Batman!! A cold, detached, emotionless loner. I’ve got news for you, that’s exactly what you are. You’ve become the man who raised you."
"Yeah...and you’re just like the man who raised you. A shallow, self-loathing, womanizing thrill-seeker. Except he was never a junkie."
The boys then have a repeat of the fight they had in New Titans. Except this time, Roy fights back. Dick stays with the Outsiders, but when the Outsiders and the Teen Titans have to fight Indigo and Superboy, Dick walks away from the Outsiders, just as he had walked away from the Titans.
Much like Nightwing 114, this issue gave rise to a lot of angst fic. The two issues are frequently combined in fics, understandably. Two of the most utterly heartbreaking examples are & quot; Titillation of the Imagination (NSFW)" by derryderrydown and "Knuckle Down" by notpoetry.
Dealing with the challenges - There is always the option of a ficlet or snippet which captures Dick or Roy’s emotions at the time of incident. However, most fic centering around Nightwing 114 or Outsiders 16 deals primarily with the ramifications of those actions.
There are three general themes in such fic.
A.) Roy Doesn’t Forgive - This one is hard to pull off believably, because Roy Harper, when he starts loving someone, doesn’t stop. This is shown in his familial relationships, time and time again. Not only that, but the boy has been defined by his The One Mistake he made for almost thirty years. It’s certainly true that he could be tired of taking second place to Dick’s Batman issues, but having him not forgive Dick’s mistakes on that basis alone is a kind of hypocritical that doesn’t fit the character very
well.
On the other hand, there is the issue of Lian. When Dick left the Outsiders he presumably left Roy and Lian as well, and while Roy may be willing to take Dick back for his sake, allowing his door to be a revolving one for Dick (because let’s face it, neither Devin nor Judd were the first time Dick couldn’t take the pressure of living up to Batman, as New Titans proves) asking his daughter to pay the price of getting close to someone and having them walk away time and again is pretty selfish. Thus, it is possible that on Lian’s behalf, Roy simply has to find the strength to tell Dick no, no matter how much it hurts.
B.) Dick apologizes (or wants to), but Roy’s moved on - No matter how much you love some one, when they leave you, you aren’t obligated to cry in your beer until they come back and beg forgiveness. In current canon, Dick and Roy have been apart for a little more than a year. JLA and JSA have given us rather cute scenes of Roy flirting with Hawkgirl and Power Girl and Hal. In addition, Donna is back from the dead. Roy moving on to any of them (or someone else Dick left behind, such as Kory or Barbara) is also a way to deal with the challenges thrown the couple's way over the past few years. One of the best examples of this type of fic is "Love and Loss" by ilyena_sylph.
C.) All is forgiven - They’ve been through a lot. Roy’s made it clear where his heart lies And with Marv’s Dick having grown up and gotten over his issues, fic where Dick comes back and Roy welcomes him with open arms is quite believable. Though it diverges from canon after Outsiders 21, "Down to Zero" by liviapenn and harriet_spy is one of the best "all is forgiven" fics.
When it comes to Dick/Roy and the challenges writers have thrown Dick’s way over the past several years, one need look no further than Dick’s comment from his identity crisis during New Titans.
"Most people tell me they're content with maybe one close friend or two. People you can trust, friends you can confide in, tell your fears to, cry beside. But I've had so many good friends who held my hand when I needed them to, or gave me my space when I wanted it. And I've grown up still knowing and loving them even when they went their own way."
That quote illustrates exactly the kind of family Dick and Roy built as founding Titans. Those are the kind of relationships forged that can’t be easily destroyed or broken and as grim as the outlook for the boys may be currently, it’s important to remember that Dick and Roy have taken turns being each others anchors when times were bad, from the heroin withdrawals to the baby napping to nervous breakdowns. There’s no reason to believe this won’t continue to be true for them, in fan fic if not in canon.
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Coming up with a list of reasons why we like Dick and Roy together isn't hard due to a lack of reasons. Rather, in looking over all that the characters represent and all that they've gone through together, it's the actual narrowing down the list of reasons that presents a challenge. Even between us, our reasons for liking them are greatly different. pervyficgirl tends to view them as her "OTP of Angst," in other words the couple that she gets to throw the worst possible things their way and watch them battle and confront those challenges as a couple. On the other hand, second_batgirl tends to like them because she feels that the two of them are good for each other; despite all of the problems, their personalities balance out.
One of the best things about writing Dick/Roy, of course, is that both of these viewpoints can not only co-exist in fanon, but have canon origins. Whether your pleasure is angst, fluff, smut, or some combination thereof, there's likely a moment in Dick/Roy history to make you happy and to provide carrots to your bunnies. That history between them is so important that the bulk of this essay will consist in exploring the changing nature of Dick/Roy over the years. Because regardless of the genre of fic they're set in, the full weight of their history together is ultimately what sets the scene.
That history also went a long way in developing the differences and similarities that compose the Dick/Roy dynamic.
Differences
It would be easy to dismiss Dick and Roy as The Original and The Knockoff, two sidekicks of shamelessly rich playboys. Indeed, if one relies solely on their early history, in which Roy was created a mere year after Dick to fill the role of Green Arrow’s Robin, that may be an easy claim to make. However, in the years since 1941, both Dick and Roy have undergone enough that they are undeniably different, even as their experiences together have reinforced their similarities.
In fact, even their origin stories - orphans taken in by kind hearted rich guys - paint two very different backdrops for Roy and Dick to grow out of. Dick’s age when he is orphaned fluctuates based on Era and the writer’s whim, generally falling somewhere between eight to thirteen. From then, he is taken in by Bruce, and begins training almost immediately. As cero_ate once put it, this is a very natural progression for Dick. He went from a circus background where training was a necessary routine measure (and any errors or slacking on the training might cause his parents injury or death) to a vigilante lifestyle where training was a further necessary routine measure (and any errors or slacking on the training might cause injury or death to his partner or the citizens of Gotham.) It was, in many ways, a very natural progression for the acrobat.
Still, despite the undeniable fact that Dick suffered a tremendous loss at an early age, and despite the fact that he would later come to view Bruce in a fatherly light, by the time he lost his parents, Dick already had a definite sense of who they were, and of the heritage they left him.
As he himself says to Roy at the beginning of the latter's soul searching vacation to Ireland: "Another difference between us. I know my roots - back for many generations. Circus performers, acrobats, clowns. The Graysons go all the way back to eighteenth century England."
Implicit in that comment is the fact Roy himself did not have such a smooth transition as Dick experienced. When he was three, his biological father died trying to put out a forest fire, which left the toddler in the care of Navajo medicine chief Brave Bow. It was under Brave Bow’s tutelage that Roy learned archery, and the Navajo customs that Roy grew up with. When Brave Bow became ill, he arranged for Speedy to become the ward of Green Arrow, in hopes that the man Roy idolized would be able to help nurture that skill. In at least one version of events, however, Roy leaves the reservation not knowing why he is being kicked off. According to the Arsenal mini, Roy believed at the time that he was kicked off for being different and for flirting with one of the tribe’s females (with an extra dose of "Brave Bow didn’t want me" thrown in for good measure.)
Young Roy was suddenly thrust into a world very different in language and customs. As he struggled to catch his breath, he became sidekick to Green Arrow, and shortly after helped found the Titans. All good things must come to an end, however, and for Roy that was definitely true. In short order, no doubt just as he was really settling into the third family of his life, the Titans broke up, Ollie went broke, and Green Arrow hit the road with Green Lantern to find himself.
Honestly, considering everything Roy had lost/gained/relost over such a short amount of time, combined with his age? The drug addiction that followed shouldn’t have been surprising to anyone.
Thus, while Dick’s transition to a sidekick was relatively smooth, Roy’s was comparatively not. The differences in the stability in their lives would set the stage for a major difference between them for the bulk of their relationship. Until recent comics storylines, Dick was very much confident and in control - something ilyena_sylph calls Leader!Robbie mode, even after he became Nightwing. Or, as Donna puts it, "You know you’re good," and that was very true. Roy, on the other hand, while outwardly open and carefree to the point of being cocky, had more than his fair share of self esteem issues, as can be expected when one has to go through three sets of parents in less than 18 years.
As Roy states: "You remember how I said we were alike? I lied then, too. I'm nothing like you. To tell the truth, Dick, I always envied you. I - I always wanted to be more like you. I'm your age, but I always felt years younger. More confused, less in control. I couldn't cope, so what did I do? I got into drugs. I forgot my assignment with the CBI and fell in love with Cheshire and gave her a baby. Roy Harper -- I'm twenty-two years old and I feel younger than that new kid - Danny."
Of course, Roy’s a bit biased there (those self esteem issues large and in charge.) Dick’s version of events is a bit more balanced in this case. After observing Roy with Lian for the first time, Dick says to Kory: "...Funny about him and me. He used to envy me because he thought I was so together, and I used to envy him because he was so open and carefree. How little we know about even our closest friends."
As they shed their last vestiges of their childhood identities, however, those differences began to shift. Lian did, indeed, become a very positive influence on Roy, making him grow up and giving him a sense of stability. This adultness is dealt with in his time as Titan leader, his founding of the Dick/Roy version of the Outsiders, and his ultimate decision to walk away from the team. Meanwhile, as Dick adjusted to grown up life and losses that come with being a leader, his doubts grew, so that for a time, he was no longer the confident man that he once was.
As Dick and Roy may have started out with similar "wards of kind rich men" backgrounds, but their relationships with their mentors have not been identical. For a long time, Dick and Bruce were much closer, as the drug addiction incident caused a rift between Ollie and Roy that took a long time to repair.
Recently, however, Ollie and Roy have grown increasingly closer. Roy has taken on the Red Arrow name - a "family" name, he calls it - and freely lets Ollie babysit his baby girl. Some writers have Dick, on the other hand, struggling constantly with his mentor - either face to face as in such stories as Batman: Prodigal, or more internally, such as his issues throughout Devin Grayson’s Nightwing run. Unlike Roy, who loves his father but does live and die by his approval, current Dick characterization makes it clear that the boy is incapable of cutting that apron string. That is not a constant characterization - it has been contracted in Titans storylines and through Dick’s interaction with Tim Drake. Still, it's prevalent enough that it is definitely a consideration in the Roy/Dick dynamic. It's also dealt with well by basingstroke in " Now That We Are Twenty-Four."
Even as their personalities shifted, Dick and Roy continued to be a presence in each other’s lives, despite how very far they’d come from their Robin and Speedy days.
Similarities
While Dick and Roy do have a lot of differences, they also have a lot of similarities. This is not at all surprising because, as mentioned above, Speedy was originally a Robin clone. Both are orphans, both were adopted by rich millionaires, both had crushes on Donna Troy at some point, and both are incredibly stubborn. Unlike the rest of the founding Titans, neither has super powers and they have to rely on their skills to fight crime and battle such wonderful villains as Mad Mod. This leaves them in the position of being the more vulnerable members of the team, yet both save the day on a variety of occasions.
In terms of origin stories, as mentioned before, they have similar ones. Both were orphans who were taken in by wealthy millionaire bachelors, and who were then trained to become heroes by capitalizing on their natural skills. If you look at their early runs, both are very similar in terms of temperament. Both existed to make their mentors seem cooler, and to give the youngish kids someone to connect with.
In terms of temperament, recent writers have given them both serious self-esteem issues. Recent canon gives Dick self-esteem issues because his adopted father is Batman. That is enough to screw with anyone’s head. Dick often feels that he has to be perfect, and that every time he isn’t perfect, and every time he fails to save someone, it just goes to prove how unworthy he is. Though Dick's lack of confidence is a new trend, his desire to please and the issues that come from that go back as far as Teen Titans v1 #38 where we discover that his greatest fear is failure, and disappointing those who he cares about.
Roy has self-esteem problems but for very different reasons. Drug issues, Cheshire issues, Ollie issues. On some level Roy doesn’t feel that he will ever be good enough, to the point that he initially thought that his invitation to the JLA was a joke.
History: Robin/Speedy
During the silver age, Robin was very much a leader. He was bossy, and there was a reason he was in charge. During this time he mostly got along with Batman - the seeds for later fighting were there, but not nearly as strong as they would become much later. Speedy is portrayed as being brash, confident, a total flirt and hard headed. Their only real interaction was in the Teen Titans.
While Robin was one of group that started the Titans, Speedy didn’t join until shortly after the founding, however he is still considered to be one of the founding five. Every now and then a writer will change the origin of the Titans. From the upcoming covers for the Teen Titans Year One mini it looks as though Roy’s status as a founder might be revoked.
All questions of whether or not canon is currently acknowledging Roy as a founding Titan aside, Roy is a founding Titan. In the last issue of Teen Titans (TT v1 #53), the ‘untold origin’ of the Teen Titans was shown in a flashback. Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Speedy and Wonder Girl all teamed up to stop their mentors who had briefly turned evil by aliens. While this is one of (or possibly the first) time they’ve met, the first thing Speedy does is back up Robin’s plan. At the end of the adventure, they decide to form a superhero ‘club’ with a cool name - The Titans. Speedy originally declines membership because "he can’t dig having a clubhouse." Robin’s response is "you can join us whenever you want!" and Speedy agrees on those terms. Because Dick asked him personally.
Pre-retcon, the first time that Speedy joins up with the Teen Titans is in TT v1 #4. Robin notices an intruder and throws his bat-rope, which promptly gets pinned to the wall by an arrow. Speedy has been asked the opening ceremonies at the Olympics, and there are wacky hijinks where he nearly lights the Titans on fire (don’t ask). Speedy is not originally asked to join the Titans at the end of this issue, but they do hope they can hook up again.
If you compare how Speedy is introduced to the ‘welcome’ that Beast Boy got when he tried to join the Titans in TT v1 #6, it is very different. Beast Boy is denied membership on a technicality, and is then compared to a problem child, while the Titans all express hope that Speedy will team up with them again.
When we next see Roy, it is in TT v1 #11. Speedy has broken into Titans Tower to place a job advertisement. Robin is very excited to see him, and says that he should have known it was Roy instead of thinking it was an actual intruder. (Oh, Roy, you are always welcome with Dick. Always.)
The next time Speedy shows up, we are treated to these amazing panels in issue 19.
Oh, Dick, you missed your boyfriend so. Speedy and Wonder Girl split off to go solve one case, and a very upset Robin goes off with Kid Flash and Aqualad. Both teams promptly get captured by someone who Speedy compares to a ‘two-bit Joker.’ By working together (and launching an arrow from a bow held up by Robin’s legs) they are able to win. They also play rock-paper-scissors in order to decide who gets to punch out the villain. It is quite adorable.
At the end of the issue Garth quits the team to go take care of the Aquababy, and Roy decides to take up their offer to join the team. While Roy claims only to be joining the team to get Wonder Girl, you have to assume that Robin has something to do with his decision to be on the Teen Titans.
Because for the next few issues we have panels like this
and this.
Soon after Speedy joins the team, the Mr. Jupiter era starts, and Robin quits (partially because he feels guilty that he didn’t save someone, and partially because he’s going to college. And also because the Titans go without their powers, masks or secret identities, and well, that’s no good for Robin.) For the next few issues there will be very little interaction between Robin and Speedy, although Roy makes it clear that he will miss Robin. However, their separation will be shortlived.
At the end of issue 43, the Teen Titans got cancelled. The series resumed a few years later. During their time apart, the Titans had all fallen out of contact, and during that time Roy had started using. It is entirely possible that if he had the Titans to fall back on, it would never have happened. However, in one view, the fighting within the Titans was one reason that Roy started using in the first place.
Dick and his opinion of Roy is important to Roy. And always will be.
The Titans reform and after a brief series of misunderstandings, are back and better than ever. None of the Titans hold Roy’s addiction against him, and are instead are just glad that he’s back with them and the Titans are together again. As per Speedy’s request, he and Robin are paired on missions together.
Roy also spends a lot of time questioning Dick’s decisions on who to trust - he is one of the most vocal members about his distrust of Duela Dent. The way it is written though, Roy just sounds jealous. He also mocks Dick when he thinks that Dick is being too serious.
Dick also criticizes Roy on his love life, saying that Roy considers everyone his territory.
While the two of them do spend most of their time arguing throughout volume 1, there is a lot of trust and mutual respect. They care about each other
When the Titans break up at the end of volume 1, it is Roy who points out that they’ve grown up and they aren’t kids anymore. They have to learn to be individuals. And then he thanks Dick and tells him he has a lot of respect for him, even if they didn’t always see eye to eye.
Speedy/Robin during the NTT Era
Speedy wasn’t part of the original New Teen Titans team mostly because he was off playing civilian. He did, however, join Dick and company for a brief story arc in which the Teen Titans try to save the streets of New York from the perils of drug use.
In Speedy’s introduction issue, Dick is quite pleased to see Roy, and manages to sneak in just how cute he finds Roy:
"...Man, it’s good seeing you again, Pal. What’ve you been up to?"
"This and that, keeping busy. This tower is incredible, Dick. We should have had something like this in the old days."
"You still practice playing Robin Hood?"
"Not as much as I’d like, but I’m still as good as I ever was. There! Now tell me. In this day and age do you think Speedy still has what it takes to be a major super-hero?"
"You cut a mean costume, Mr. Harper."
Raven interrupts their flirting with the reminder that there are actually other people still on the team, and Roy spares some time to flirt with Raven. Dick is not at all pleased to see his love flirting with someone else:
"Whoa. Slow down, Romeo. I see you’re the same as ever."
"Believe it, Pal. Remember, they didn’t call me Speedy for nothing."
"*sigh.* The more things change, the more they stay the same. C’mon. Let’s get moving."
By the time Speedy flirts with Kory later in the arc, Dick’s pretty much had it with Roy’s flirting and tells Roy to back off.
The most telling Speedy/Robin part of the New Teen Titans comes during a flashback issue, in which we see both Speedy and Aqualad visit the Tower at the beginning of the New Teen Titans origin. While the rest of the team is busy greeting Aqualad, Dick’s attention immediately goes to Roy, who reciprocates the ignoring of the rest of the team and tells Dick that he needs help.
"Yeah, something’s wrong, Dick...Real wrong, and I need your help."
"You’ve got it, Roy. You know that."
Ah, the sweet and prophetic words of teenage love.
Toonverse
Toon Titans gives us a different take on the characters. In his first appearance in the season two episode "Winner Takes All," Speedy appears to be a clone of toon!Robin. He is extremely dedicated, not at all sarcastic, and is prime leader material. Robin and Speedy immediately hit it off, and begin a conversation about their weapons. He is shown as being slightly more pragmatic, trying to convince Robin that winning is not as important.
When we next see Speedy, it is in the two part finale to season three, "Titans East." Here, he has changed some to more resemble his comics counterpart. Speedy is sarcastic and occasionally insensitive. He insists on eating fish even after Aqualad had asked him to stop because it offended him. The characterization of Speedy is much closer to his late silver age counterpart.
Toon Robin is a very driven version of Dick Grayson. He is extremely bossy, far more so than comics Robin has been in a while, and again feels that he needs to be perfect. He views failure as something that should not happen to him, and he needs to be able to capture criminals. His obsession with Slade is the strongest example of that.
History: Nightwing/Speedy
"I need Roy...and I trust he's as stupidly curious as I am." - Action Comics Weekly 627
Speedy and Nightwing didn’t get a lot of panel time together. From the time Dick became Nightwing until Roy became Arsenal, Roy was a rare sight around Titans Tower, choosing instead to focus on his civilian identity, CBI or Checkmate. However, two very important - and delightfully slashy - story arcs came out of Nightwing/Speedy spending time together.
The first of these arcs is "The Cheshire Contract." Ostensibly, it is supposed to be an arc in which Dick and Roy rescue his then baby daughter from her supervillain mother. While it certainly is that, it is also a convenient excuse for the boys to get naked around each other and share their feelings.
To that end, we are treated to panel after panel like the following:
And
And
That is, for the record, Dick getting undressed in front of Roy, who looks rather happy to be treated to the second striptease of their trip so far.
In the beginning, Roy is not entirely truthful with Dick with the reasons for the trip (likely because Baby Stealing is the kind of illegal activity not usually sanctioned by most people.) However, it is very telling that he is adamant for Dick’s help, and completely rejects the help of any other of the founding Titans, including Donna. Despite the initial untruthfulness, the fact that he still seeks out Dick’s help and steadfastly does not want anyone else’s depicts a very strong sense of trust that even their years apart did not sever.
Even when Dick finds out the truth, his loyalty to Roy does not waver. He stays with Roy through the entire five issues of the arc, coming to Roy’s rescue and risking life and limb fighting Cheshire, something that truly distresses a bound Roy. He also manages to both save Roy and deliver Lian to her father’s hands.
At the end of the arc, Cheshire is captured. Her last words to Nightwing before she is carted away are: "T-take ... care .... of ...my baby." To which Dick replies, "Lian is in good hands. The best of hands."
Cheshire is a lot of things, but she’s never been stupid. She’s well aware of exactly who is on the Titans line up (having fought them), that the father of her baby isn’t, and that Roy has no intention of being separated from his daughter. Yet, she still is asking Dick to take care of her baby.
Really, when even the supervillains know you have a thing going on, obvious is too kind of a word.
The follow up to this storyline is "Rocks and Hard Places," in which Dick takes time away from leading the Titans to randomly go on a cruise with Roy and Lian. While he is helping Roy move to Ireland, we’re once again treated to Roy and Dick hanging out together gratuitously naked on occasion and talking about their feelings some more.
Roy: "Maybe I’m wrong about this, Dick, but it’s something I have to do."
Dick: "It’s not wrong. More than almost anyone else, I understand."
Roy spends a few issues of this arc alone in Ireland, trying to adjust to life there while fighting terrorists. However, when things get really bad, he once again calls on the friend he trusts most. And Dick is happy to show up - by himself and completely sans the team he was leading at this point, even though one suspects that when fighting firebombing terrorists, having an Amazon and a Tamaranean on your side could only be a good thing.
It also features a very nice car chase in which Dick and Roy argue like a married couple while being chased by the bad guys.
"Harper! Slow down! We’re more in danger of becoming a traffic accident than anything else! Harper, you lead foot, the Cliffs!"
"Okay, okay! I get the point! This slow enough?"
"Hurry up! Can’t you go faster!"
"Make up your mind!"
"Roy, shoot them!"
"You shoot them. I‘m driving!"
Awwww. To complete the image of parents on a family vacation, Roy and Dick are traveling during that scene with Lian and two additional sidekicks Irish children.
Also, there is gratuitous propositioning.
This arc ends with Roy returning stateside and hanging out with Dick and Kory. Kory plays with Lian, while Dick and Roy discuss their feelings again. It’s a very sweet domestic scene, with Dick being surrounded by the two redheads who love him.
Together, "The Cheshire Contract" and "Rocks and Hard Places" make up a very small portion of Dick and Roy’s lives together. However, these story lines provide the basis for so many of the "Lian has two daddies" storylines in fandom, even those set years after the fact. Most importantly of all, the ease with which Nightwing and Speedy interact in these story arcs is one that shows true, undeniable affection and gratuitous nudity for one another, even at a time in which they were not seeing each other on a daily basis.
Arsenal/Nightwing
Two Nightwing/Arsenal references took place outside of the regular Titans title. The Arsenal miniseries, set shortly after Ollie’s death, doesn’t actually feature Dick, nor is he in anyway central to the plot.
This doesn’t stop Roy from bringing him up, however. In the middle of a discussion with Connor about Ollie (where once again, Roy’s insecurities shine through), Roy remarks: "Do you know Nightwing, Connor? Guy’s got this sidekick-hangover thing about being in second place to Batman. Well, check me out. I’m in second place to Ollie, and to you, and to Nightwing...So Nightwing feels a little inferior to Batman, sometimes, huh? Well, so what?! Get over it already! I mean, at least Nightwing would’ve remembered to keep someone conscious to tell him where (Vandal) Savage was!"
Roy again brings Dick up, as he is in the middle of a moral quandary. Faced with the decision to help Vandal Savage or allow Lian to die, Roy first chooses to help Savage, but then does a mental checklist of the people in his life that have gotten him to this point (And who, implicitly, would disapprove.) Chief among these people are Ollie, and "...Hell, even Dick would get me out at frickin’ six a.m. to spar..."
At the very least, this miniseries makes clear that Dick is an important part of Roy’s life. The fact that Dick is mentioned - when none of the other Titans are - along with Ollie as one of the biggest influences in Roy’s life shows a layer of trust and companionship that even the beginning slasher could turn into fic.
The Batman/Arsenal one-shot continues this theme, as well as the one set out by Marv Wolfman in "The Cheshire Contract" and "Rocks and Hard Places" : when Roy needs help, Dick is the first person he turns to.
It should also be noted that the first panel we see has Roy’s thought bubble directly beside Dick’s crotch. The sentiment expressed? "Now I’ve got him."
Oh, Roy, honey, I’m sure you do.
This time around, however, Dick is adjusting to life in Bludhaven, and since the actual problem is in Gotham (something Dick expresses disappointment over), Roy is sent to Batman.
The interactions between Bruce and Roy are actually quite fascinating. A lot of fandom portrayals have Roy terrified of Bruce, and show Bruce as condescending and not approving of Roy as a partner for Dick. Here, as Bruce and Roy work side by side, neither of those characterizations are really very present. Roy initially doesn’t want to work with Bruce because he "ain’t normal," and Bruce does treat Roy briskly, but no more so than typically depicted with Clark or various JLA members. Moreover, Roy gets over whatever "fear" he might have had long enough to tell Bruce that he thinks Bruce has been a lousy parent. "I don’t know what the hell made you superhero guys think you were capable of raising kids, but let me tell you something. Praise doesn’t kill anyone. There’s even this thing called self-esteem that’s considered useful in certain situations. Y’know, I’ve spent my whole life coming I second place to Dick. ..But hey, I’m man enough to admit that he can do things I can’t. Plus, I’ve known all along the price he paid was having to deal with you. Hard to imagine the two of you going camping just for the hell of it. Or spending all day playing old B.B. King albums and making chili. Bet you didn’t even miss it! None of it counts anyway, right? We’re not family to you guys! We’re just soldiers, low ranking soldiers. We’re just supposed to go on no matter what. That’s the way it is, isn’t it? Isn’t it?"
Hardly the words of someone too terrified of Batman to speak.
And Bruce, though he’s been his typical Battish self up to this point, recognizes Roy’s painful tirade for the projection that it is. His response is a very simple, very understanding, "Roy...I miss Ollie too."
By the end of the issue, Dick has called in to make certain that Bruce rescued his daughter Lian, and Bruce has gained Uncle Batman status with the child.
"See, princess? I told you Grandpa Ollie would look out for you no matter where he was. That’s what family does. Ask your Mommy. Or Uncle Batman."
Now that the "meeting the in-laws" section has been discussed, let’s move on.
By the time they become Nightwing and Arsenal, the two have gone through a lot of changes. Dick has started to become darker, his relationships have begun to fall apart. Dick is basically on his own. Roy, on the other hand, has grown up and is far more confident in his abilities, and has mentored another team of Titans in the interim.
In Nightwing 10 Dick is placed under the influence of Scarecrow’s fear gas. His entire hallucination is about being replaced by people who are better than he is. The newer model. The one that replaced him in love? Is Roy Harper. Roy is who Dick wants to be in terms of family and love. He is the one that Dick views as being better than him.
After Cyborg stopped being a planet due to the help of the Titans and the fact that Beast Boy loooooooves him, the founding five Titans met up in a diner and decided to reform the Titans. Because they are all far more awesome when they are on a team. During the conversation, Lian sits between her two dads, drawing pictures of her new home.
The change in Dick as he joins the Titans is immediate. He trusts his team. He trusts them to be able to do their jobs, going so far as to tell Superman that they don’t need a babysitter, and they can handle themselves. Roy as well does wonderfully with the Titans - he puts his team and his family first. Dick does also assume that Roy would be the one to step up to the challenge and lead in his absence. While he suspects Wally might be able to as well, his first thought is Roy. Roy is also the one who he asks to watch his back when they go into battle.
The two of them soon settle into a pattern where they tease each other. Or really, Roy teases Dick. A lot. About his name, his needing the secret identity... and soon the Titans are at each others throats.
Not just Dick and Roy - in fact, at the start of it, they are getting along better than most of the Titans. Nightwing has begun his descent into becoming more like Batman - one of the reasons this version of the Titans was formed in the first place. In an attempt to try to save their relationships, the five founding Titans went off on a retreat. Due to some interference by the Gargoyle, all of their issues bubble over.
It is Roy who calls Dick out on his behavior first, bringing up some real issues along with some low blows. His main point is that Dick can’t give his entire life up for Batman, and Dick is visibly wounded by his words. (Surprisingly, it is Garth who throws the junkie comment around.)
The Gargoyle then attempts to place the Titans under his control, and it is Roy who first breaks free. The first thing he does is search out Dick, because there is nobody better to have by his side. When Dick figures out that they need to talk things out to escape from Limbo, Roy is able to confront Dick, remind him that friendship is about helping each other become more. And then he reminds Dick that he loves him, but occasionally he drives him (and the rest of the team) crazy. And he ends by punching Dick in the face.
Sometimes a good kick in the pants (or punch in the face) is just what is necessary, and a favorite form of therapy for Dick and Roy. They then return to normal and get back to teasing each other.
After the death of Donna Troy in Graduation Day, Dick disbanded the Titans, unable to deal with the fact that he’d lost yet another friend. After throwing in the towel on the Titans, Dick swears he’s going solo and wants nothing more to do with being a part of a team. Roy’s immediate response is that he and Dick can get through this together, even though at that time both Wally and Garth were still around.
The Outsiders are born out of Roy’s determination that he and Dick belong together on a team. Roy tries first to phone Dick, and we are treated to a scene of Dick staring forlornly at a photograph of the original Titans as Roy’s voice pleads with him to pick up the phone. "Dick, we need to talk... you can’t just...please...you can’t just leave me hanging out here. I’d rather we...y’know...try to go through this together... if you’d just let me...okay, fine. I’m here when you’re ready."
When Dick won’t answer his phone call, Roy gets frustrated and hunts down Dick anyway. It’s important and fascinating to note that Roy doesn’t do the reach out and touch program with a single solitary other Titan. There’s no heartfelt call to Wally, no determined quest to Atlantis...it’s Dick, and only Dick that Roy is interested in saving. Only Dick that Roy apparently can’t live without.
And face to face, Dick does cave rather easily.
Roy knows Dick is better off with a team. He convinces Dick to join with the offer that it will be a team of strangers, although he hopes that Dick will grow to think of them as a family. (Which was always the Titans' greatest strength, even if Dick was thinking of them as a weakness at that point, because he couldn’t stand for it to hurt anymore.)
And for all of its faults, Outsiders is a Dick/Roy slasher PARADISE. Particularly Grace’s view of the couple.
You know how we mentioned that Dick and Roy’s favorite form of therapy is punching each other? After Roy was shot, Dick pulls a gun on Roy to help him regain his confidence and get over his fears.
(An abridged conversation - full scans are here and here
Dick: C’mon. Take it. Three months ago I wouldn’t have been able to draw it on you... Roy...?
Roy: I’m scared. For the first time in a very long time... I’m scared.... I can’t be thinking about... dying. I don’t think I should be out there in the field. I’m going to get someone hurt.
Dick: Well. Which is it? You’re afraid of getting someone hurt or you’re just moaning about dying. Pick one.
Roy: This is you helping me?
Dick: Not so much. Pulling the gun on you, that was helping.
Roy: I see that a childhood with Batman doesn’t breed sensitivity.
Dick: Roy... look... if you don’t want to come back to this life then don’t.... but if you’re asking me if I think you’ve lost your edge, or if I think you shouldn’t be on this team. Or... if I wouldn’t put my own life in your hands.... Man... there is no one... NO ONE I’d rather have fighting by my side than you.
That’s right. There is nobody that Dick would rather have fighting by his side. Not Batman. Not Superman. Not Wally. Roy.
After Infinite Crisis, Dick and Roy break up. No, seriously. That is the best interpretation that I can give you for the Outsiders Annual, which pervyficgirl wrote a (NC-17) fic about in Unmake the Memories.
Roy has realized that he is better off in the light, and he is not meant to be an Outsider. (He belongs in the JLA, as you will see in the next section.)
It will take Dick over a year to come to this same realization.
Present: Red Arrow/Nightwing
At first glance, the current situation between Roy and Dick is pretty grim indeed. Roy is currently working with the JLA while Dick has just ended (another) failed engagement. The overall theme for Dick’s current Marv Wolfman comic seems to be moving on and beyond the past, while Roy’s current personal theme seems to be embracing his past. The boys do indeed seem to be at very different spots in their lives, and a considerable distance apart from one another.
Ah, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, and, repeating their Nightwing/Speedy pattern that gave birth to gay cruises and domestic tranquility, the absence certainly hasn’t made Roy forget Dick. His first response to Hal before the League is formally put together, upon learning that there was trouble, was that they could form their own League. The very first person Roy wants on his team, the first person he would turn to, despite all the bad that has transpired between them, was Dick.
When Roy is close to death in the eleventh issue, he tells us why.
"The pressure’s so great, I feel it in the bad vein down my forehead. Next to me, Mari’s already slowing down. She thinks it’s because she lost contact with the totem. But she’s not on this team for the totem - or for her animal powers - or even for a bow and arrow. She’s on this team because she’ll fight. Like Bruce taught Dick. Like Dick taught me."
And while Roy seems to have momentarily found another pretty bird, Lian’s comments to Kendra remind us that for a very long time, Lian had two daddies.
Kendra: "Wanna go up to the kitchen? I can do a princess hologram with a real castle."
Lian: "How ‘bout a Batcave?"
Her Gotham daddy apparently taught her very well.
There’s hope in the Nightwing comic as well. Dick is cheerier and more content in the book than he’s been since prior to Graduation Day. Marv’s Dick Grayson is very much a grown-up, and one capable of admitting he’s made mistakes in the past, and wanting not to repeat those mistakes. There’s even an admission that he’s loved freely, but not allowed himself to admit need anywhere near as easily.
They are indeed facing two very different start-overs at this point in their lives. While no one can predict what the future holds, the boys have overcome far lower points in their relationship before. Thus, no matter how long DC keeps them apart or whatever else is thrown their way, it is still easy to believe that Dick and Roy will be overcome the current stumbling blocks as easily as they have ones in the past.
Supporting Casts/relationships
Bruce - Dick’s relationship with his adoptive father is a very complicated one. On one level, the two of them work together incredibly well, but that is only when the masks are on and if they aren’t being completely ridiculous at the time. Bruce and Dick have most settled into mutual respect, with Bruce still having a great degree of influence on Dick’s self esteem. A compliment from Bruce has been shown to be enough to make Dick’s day, while a harsh word could cause incredible damage. Dick seeks out Bruce’s approval, but it has been shown that he doesn’t always think he deserves it.
So how would Bruce feature in a Dick/Roy fic? Is he going to be accepting of Dick’s partnership with Roy? Is he going to be controlling? Will Dick be able to put Roy ahead of Bruce, or will he still continue to come when Bruce calls?
Ollie - As troubled as Dick and Bruce have been... at least Bruce isn’t canonically responsible for Dick turning to drugs. Unlike Ollie. Ollie’s abandonment of Roy to go off to have sex with Hal on a road trip with Hal to find himself led directly to Roy’s heroin use. For a while, Roy and Ollie weren’t speaking at all after that. They were so estranged that nobody even remembered to invite Roy to Ollie’s funeral. Since Ollie’s return for the dead, the two of them have patched things up (and gone on a road trip of their own.) Roy has come to terms with the fact that he is important to Ollie, and Ollie (mostly) remembers this as well.
Ollie in a Dick/Roy fic? Well, the best thing that Judd Winnick did in his GA run was legalizing gay marriage in Star City. There are quite a few fics where either Ollie encourages Roy to bring Dick to Star City for that purpose, or freaks out when Dick and Roy show up. Also, there should really be more fic with Dick blaming Ollie for Roy’s addiction.
Dinah - There is really not enough that I can say about the positive role that Dinah has played in Roy’s life. When Roy was detoxing from heroin? It was Dinah who was there for him. She is his mother figure. (Which, considering that we know almost nothing about Roy’s mother, is quite significant.) Dinah calls Roy ‘boy-o’ and has been shown to issue ‘friendly’ warnings to his potential love interests.
Dinah in Dick/Roy fic? Well, how does she feel about how Dick treated Roy from Graduation Day on? How does she feel about Dick in general considering his past relationship with Barbara?
Babs - Barbara Gordon, the first (or second if we count pre-crisis Bette Kane) Batgirl, and now Oracle. Often presented as being the first true love of Dick’s life. They did, in fact, have a very adorable past relationship, but Dick and Babs have mostly moved on and been allowed to grow up, although they will always care deeply about each other. They were also briefly engaged right before One Year Later, but neither of them have made any attempt to get back together since.
So how do we fit in Babs in a Dick/Roy fic? As Oracle, she’s always a convenient way of setting the two up for something.
Kory - Oh, Kory. Both pervyficgirl and second_batgirl adore Kory, and would love to see her get more love in fic. Kory is also a very important part of Dick’s life. She taught him to loosen up and have fun. She’s like Roy in that way. Kory represents a big part of Dick getting to grow
up
Kory in fic is a) useful for sex pollen b) awesome for threesomes and c) awesome in general.
Donna - I cannot stress enough the importance of Donna to Dick and Roy. She is their rock. All of the original Titans had crushes on her, but the ones she was closest to were Dick and Roy. Her death was part of what sent Dick on his downward spiral as he could not deal with losing her.
In fic? Donna loves both of the boys dearly. Does she encourage them to get together? Wonder if she turned them both gay? Help them sort out their problems/feelings? Also, briefly during The Titans Donna admitted that she was using Roy. How does Dick feel about that? How does Donna feel about what her death did to Dick and Roy? There are so many possibilities for Donna within Dick/Roy fic.
Cheshire - Cheshire will always be an important part of Roy’s life, simply because she is the mother of his child. And he still does care for her, as shown in The Titans. He has, however, grown to acknowledge that it is not possible for there to be anything between them. Cheshire is currently in prison, but Roy still takes Lian to visit her.
How would Cheshire react to Dick/Roy? How does Dick feel about Roy still taking Lian to visit her? How does Dick feel about Cheshire still being a part of Roy's life?
Lian - Roy’s daughter is a bundle of love and joy and the only child in the entire DC baby boom who is not an evil robot. She is wonderful and can take care of herself and means absolutely everything to Roy. The world is also clearly a much better place when Lian has two daddies.
The (Teen) Titans - For both Dick and Roy, the Titans are their family. Period. No matter that the lineup of the team is, Dick and Roy do best on the Titans. (Okay, Roy is also pretty awesome on the JLA, and he deserves to be there.) But the Titans are a family. They look out for each other. They may not always like each other, but they will always love each other. The Titans know Dick and Roy better than anyone, and they look out for each other. In fic - how do the Titans react? Are they responsible for locking them in a closet and making them work it out getting them together? Do they all approve?
The Outsiders - As mentioned before, the Outsiders were formed by Roy to keep Dick from going insane. Dick was a jackass to him and the team, because they were not nearly as awesome as the Titans. However, it is canon that Grace thinks that Dick and Roy make a cute couple. So, the Outsiders are good for that. However, they were more of a challenge to Dick and Roy’s relationship and a sign of Dick’s nervous breakdown than anything else.
Challenges to the Dick/Roy Relationship
One of the reasons I love Dick and Roy so much is because of their ability to continually face and overcome challenges in their relationship. A relationship is only as strong as the tests it can weather, and Dick and Roy have weathered more than their fair share of threats, both internal and external. Ignoring the angst and rough spots in their relationship would be ignoring a large part of what makes them Dick and Roy in the first place.
New Titans - By the time of the New Titans, Dick Grayson is not in the best emotional shape of his life. He was an angry, bitter young man confused over his place with Batman and the Titans, and the fact that his girlfriend broke up with him after he unknowingly cheated on her with a shape shifting impersonator did not help his disposition.
In New Titans 100, Dick and Kory finally have their wedding. Unfortunately, they are interrupted by evil Raven blowing up the officiator. Even more unfortunately, this all coincides with the increasing government crackdown on superhero teams which, in retrospect, was a small scale version of Marvel’s current "superheroes must register and do our bidding or else" plotline.
Roy is, at the start of the arc, working for Checkmate. Because of his ties to the Titans he is chosen to be Checkmate’s delegate to convince the Titans to allow themselves to be put under government supervision. Continuing a pattern established with "The Cheshire Contract," the first person Roy goes to is not the Titans as a whole, but Dick.
Alone on a rooftop together, Roy tries to convince Dick to agree and to lead the Titans. Dick refuses and it’s only then that Roy puts the offer to the other Titans. Checkmate, displeased with the refusal, changes the offer and now wants Agent Harper to be in charge, under the belief that he will be easier to manipulate.
Roy and the other Titans agree to this, but only because Dick’s mental state is clearly and obviously not one that needs to be leading their team. Moreover, Roy’s hesitation to do anything to hurt Dick is obvious as he pleads to first to his boss: "Please, Sir, don’t make me do it. Nightwing knows what he’s doing. He’s a good man." and then to the rest of the Titans (including the remaining three of the founders.) "Someone convince me this is best for him (Dick). I really need to believe that."
Donna convinces him, but doesn’t do such a good job convincing Dick.
Dick: "Without powers and abilities it was hard growing up for all of us. I tuck it through. But you -- you dropped out. You drugged out."
Roy: "Dick, that’s not fair. And this has nothing to do with that."
Dick then proceeds to attempt to teach Roy the "lesson" he "deserves" for being a "traitor." Roy doesn’t fight Dick, choosing only defensive moves, and tries to point out that if Dick was thinking straight, there’s no way Roy would be able to dodge them.
Dick: "I’ve been there every time you called me. I sat up with you all night while you detoxing. That was not a pretty sight."
Roy: "I haven’t forgotten, Dick. That’s what makes this so hard for me."
Dick goes off to South America to find Kory and to rescrew his head back on. Back home, Roy makes his reasoning quite clear. "I'm not Dick. He's gone and I'm in charge, so please either help me or leave. I love the Titans and what it's always stood for, Wally. And I want to do my damnedest to save it."
Despite this, the ensuing arc gives us more than one instance of Roy’s insecurities in Dick not being there. And Dick, once he takes time out from his South American vacation, decides that he has to leave the Titans, not because of Roy or Checkmate, but because he has some very real growing up to do.
And the first person on his mind, whose reaction worries him? "This is for me...I deserve to do something for me...even a convicted felon gets time off for good behavior. Roy'll understand. He has to."
Roy might understand, but he still takes it hard, and still pleads with Dick to stay.
"Dick, you’re the core of our group . You have to stay."
"Roy, I was going to take time off before you signed that. You know everything I've gone through lately. One thing I learned is I have to be comfortable with myself. If you need help, Roy -- you can call. The Titans still mean everything to me...but for now, it's your group. Take care of it, bud."
This is the first major hurdle Dick and Roy have to get over, but it certainly isn’t their last. If anything, it proves that Dick and Roy need each other very much (as evidenced in their constant referrals to each other and need for the other to understand what they are doing, far above anyone else.) And as anyone familiar with Titans history can attest, the split is not permanent. Soon enough, Nightwing and Arsenal are both back with the Titans. Considering all that was thrown at them in the coming years, this is a very hopeful indicator of the way things can and should work out between them.
Devin Grayson’s Nightwing Run - Love it or hate it, it’s safe to say that Devin’s Nightwing run introduced a much darker Nightwing than before. During her run, Dick’s circus is attacked, his apartment building blown up, he’s sexually assaulted, and he works undercover with both the Mob and Deathstroke. As a fitting end to the run, Deathstroke arranges for Dick’s city to be blown up, providing an adequate end for such a dark story arc. There are an infinite number of post-Nightwing 93 fics, most of which falls in the category of fix-it fic. Two such excellent examples include mamadebfic’s "Titans and Brothers" and "Halloween Surprise" by raven_kerry, as well as second_batgirl’s " "Fixing It".
The implications this story arc have on Dick and Roy’s relationship don't have to be imagined. In Nightwing 114, we are shown exactly what Dick’s darker turn is capable of doing to them.
The most interesting aspect of Dick’s turn as "Renegade," in terms of the Dick/Roy relationship is that the man chooses to clothe himself in Arsenal’s colors during that time. In fan fic, this is usually seen as a crying out and a clinging to the life that Dick misses and wants back. That theme is actually present in most Renegade era fic.
Even in the actual issue itself, one can see that Dick doesn’t want to fight Roy. Just before the first punch, Dick’s head and shoulders slump, a sign that he hates what he is doing in the name of being undercover.
Sadly, Dick doesn’t follow his gut. His words following that scene are a plea for Roy to"don’t get up." He repeats the phrase to Roy, each word accentuated by a punch or a kick.
The explanation is that Dick was merely protecting Roy from Rose and protecting his undercover status as a "bad guy." Still, the kindest thing that can be said about that scene is that Dick chose the Mission over and above his former lover his friend and fellow founding Titan.
After Dick leaves, Roy calls Oracle and lets her know that she was right, and he did need more padding. The look on his face is not a happy one, rather it's one of a man that is worried about the direction his partner is heading in.
Graduation Day and The Outsiders - Truthfully, The Outsiders are a Dick/Roy ‘shipper’s paradise, especially for the first fifteen issues. Those first fifteen issues are glorious and fun and full of snaky greatness that provides all the evidence that Dick and Roy either are/have/will sleep together at some point in the past/present/future. In fact, there is a lot of really wonderful fan fic written from The Outsiders that doesn’t have a hint of angst in it anywhere. A wonderful example of this is "Spanky Pants" (Very NSFW) by derryderrydown.
Issue 16 of the series changed the tone and the nature of the relationship. In that issue, Roy confronts Dick over less than stellar leadership and the boys play a game of "your mentor is worse than mine."
"Jesus, you think this is ego?! Look at you! Your greatest fear in life, the thing that eats at you - is that you’re terrified of becoming Batman!! A cold, detached, emotionless loner. I’ve got news for you, that’s exactly what you are. You’ve become the man who raised you."
"Yeah...and you’re just like the man who raised you. A shallow, self-loathing, womanizing thrill-seeker. Except he was never a junkie."
The boys then have a repeat of the fight they had in New Titans. Except this time, Roy fights back. Dick stays with the Outsiders, but when the Outsiders and the Teen Titans have to fight Indigo and Superboy, Dick walks away from the Outsiders, just as he had walked away from the Titans.
Much like Nightwing 114, this issue gave rise to a lot of angst fic. The two issues are frequently combined in fics, understandably. Two of the most utterly heartbreaking examples are & quot; Titillation of the Imagination (NSFW)" by derryderrydown and "Knuckle Down" by notpoetry.
Dealing with the challenges - There is always the option of a ficlet or snippet which captures Dick or Roy’s emotions at the time of incident. However, most fic centering around Nightwing 114 or Outsiders 16 deals primarily with the ramifications of those actions.
There are three general themes in such fic.
A.) Roy Doesn’t Forgive - This one is hard to pull off believably, because Roy Harper, when he starts loving someone, doesn’t stop. This is shown in his familial relationships, time and time again. Not only that, but the boy has been defined by his The One Mistake he made for almost thirty years. It’s certainly true that he could be tired of taking second place to Dick’s Batman issues, but having him not forgive Dick’s mistakes on that basis alone is a kind of hypocritical that doesn’t fit the character very
well.
On the other hand, there is the issue of Lian. When Dick left the Outsiders he presumably left Roy and Lian as well, and while Roy may be willing to take Dick back for his sake, allowing his door to be a revolving one for Dick (because let’s face it, neither Devin nor Judd were the first time Dick couldn’t take the pressure of living up to Batman, as New Titans proves) asking his daughter to pay the price of getting close to someone and having them walk away time and again is pretty selfish. Thus, it is possible that on Lian’s behalf, Roy simply has to find the strength to tell Dick no, no matter how much it hurts.
B.) Dick apologizes (or wants to), but Roy’s moved on - No matter how much you love some one, when they leave you, you aren’t obligated to cry in your beer until they come back and beg forgiveness. In current canon, Dick and Roy have been apart for a little more than a year. JLA and JSA have given us rather cute scenes of Roy flirting with Hawkgirl and Power Girl and Hal. In addition, Donna is back from the dead. Roy moving on to any of them (or someone else Dick left behind, such as Kory or Barbara) is also a way to deal with the challenges thrown the couple's way over the past few years. One of the best examples of this type of fic is "Love and Loss" by ilyena_sylph.
C.) All is forgiven - They’ve been through a lot. Roy’s made it clear where his heart lies And with Marv’s Dick having grown up and gotten over his issues, fic where Dick comes back and Roy welcomes him with open arms is quite believable. Though it diverges from canon after Outsiders 21, "Down to Zero" by liviapenn and harriet_spy is one of the best "all is forgiven" fics.
When it comes to Dick/Roy and the challenges writers have thrown Dick’s way over the past several years, one need look no further than Dick’s comment from his identity crisis during New Titans.
"Most people tell me they're content with maybe one close friend or two. People you can trust, friends you can confide in, tell your fears to, cry beside. But I've had so many good friends who held my hand when I needed them to, or gave me my space when I wanted it. And I've grown up still knowing and loving them even when they went their own way."
That quote illustrates exactly the kind of family Dick and Roy built as founding Titans. Those are the kind of relationships forged that can’t be easily destroyed or broken and as grim as the outlook for the boys may be currently, it’s important to remember that Dick and Roy have taken turns being each others anchors when times were bad, from the heroin withdrawals to the baby napping to nervous breakdowns. There’s no reason to believe this won’t continue to be true for them, in fan fic if not in canon.